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Section 31
Section 31 was the name of an officially nonexistent clandestine organization within Starfleet Intelligence that claimed to protect the security interests of Starfleet and the Federation. Tactics Little information is available about the activities of the organization. One of its operatives claimed that Section 31 dealt with threats to the Federation that others did not even realize existed and that jeopardized the Federation's very survival. Section 31's actions were autonomous and its existence was neither acknowledged nor denied by Starfleet Command or the Federation Council. Those found guilty of posing a security threat to the Federation were dealt with quietly, as one of its operatives, Luther Sloan, once explained. Section 31 was unaccountable to anyone; it did not submit reports to anyone or ask approval for specific operations. As such, it has been described as having granted itself the powers of "judge, jury, and executioner." Under Section 31 credo, to save lives, the ends always justified the means and its operatives were not afraid to bend the rules if the situation warranted it. Section 31's existence was likened to that of the Cardassian Union's Obsidian Order or the Romulan Star Empire's Tal Shiar. Section 31 had no known physical headquarters or base of operations. A select few were chosen to carry widespread knowledge of their operations. Recruitment of new agents had to be done in secret. One method that Section 31 used to accomplish that involved kidnapping potential agents and testing their loyalty. Section 31's recruitment policy did not allow agents to officially retire from duty, and agents who had long since moved on from the agency could be called upon at any time to carry out a mission. History Origins and 22nd Century Presence The organization was started by the intelligence program Uraei when it found it could not deal with threats to humanity within the confines of the law. Searching the original Starfleet Charter, Uraei discovered Article 14, Section 31, which allowed for extraordinary measures to be taken in times of extreme threat. Using that article as justification, Uraei created a new covert agency called Section 31 and then began assigning people and resources to the new agency. At some point before 2151, a young Ensign Malcolm Reed was recruited by Section 31 through former Starfleet Security officer Matthew Harris. By the time Reed was posted to the Enterprise NX-01, he was no longer actively involved in covert operations. However, in late 2154, when Reed was investigating the kidnapping of Doctor Phlox, he was contacted by Harris again. Harris' organization had entered into a secret agreement with Klingon Fleet Admiral Krell, in which Harris facilitated Phlox's forcible transportation to a Klingon colony to help in finding a cure for the Klingon augment virus in exchange for a mutually-beneficial alliance. Harris ordered Reed to slow down Enterprise's investigation until Phlox could develop a cure. Reed complied, but his tampering was discovered by Captain Jonathan Archer and Commander T'Pol, and Reed was thrown in the brig. T'Pol reconstructed Reed's communication logs and discovered that he had been in contact with Harris. When confronted with this information, Reed confessed that he had been following Harris' orders. Later, Archer had Reed put him in contact with Harris, and Harris told Archer that, if Phlox was successful, the Klingon Empire would stabilize. An outcome that would be quite favorable for Starfleet. Archer remained suspicious of Harris's motives. After the plague was cured, Harris contacted Reed again, but Reed rebuffed him, saying that he only answered to one commanding officer: Jonathan Archer. In 2155, Harris agreed to provide intelligence on the Earth-based Human terrorist group Terra Prime to the Enterprise crew when it was discovered that Terra Prime was attempting to disrupt the creation of the Coalition of Planets, and to drive all non-Humans out of Earth's solar system. Harris implied to Reed that this information would come at a price to be exacted at a later time. In the 2160s, to deal with the Ware threat Section 31 provided a destruct code for the Ware to the Klingons, which enabled the Klingons to destroy the Partnership of Civilizations. In the aftermath former agent Trip Tucker came to the conclusion that Section 31 had to be brought down. With assistance from Jonathan Archer and Malcolm Reed, Tucker was able to expose the 22nd century version of Section 31 to the public. Many of its agents were arrested, and the senior leadership committed suicide by shutting down anti-matter containment on their vessel to avoid capture. In order to keep the public from thinking that the Federation had approved of 31, the Federation did not identify the secret organization as Section 31, instead calling it "The Harris Conspiracy." Before he died, Harris hinted to Tucker that there was a "higher echelon" in charge of 31. This echelon was in reality the hidden Uraei program, which allowed this version of 31 to be destroyed in order to eliminate Harris and his fellow agents, which Uraei felt were now a liability. Uraei was content to let 31 lie dormant for a time until the furor over 31 had died down and it could reconstitute the agency. 23rd Century By the mid 23rd century, after the furor over The Harris Conspiracy had died down, Control/Uraei reconstituted Section 31. A human male named Leland was a Section 31 agent in the 2250s. Shortly after the end of the Federation-Klingon War of 2256-57, he disguised himself as a Trill and approached the mirror universe version of Philippa Georgiou on Qo'noS. He recruited her into Section 31, offering her another chance to influence the galaxy. The fact that Control was an artificial intelligence was known to a number of Section 31 personnel in the mid 23rd century. In the 2250s Control was hijacked by the Logic Extremist Admiral Patar, who reprogrammed it to carry out her agenda. Control however turned on Patar and the other leaders of Section 31, killing them when they gathered at 31's headquarters. It intended to use data the starship Discovery had acquired from an ancient living sphere in order to become fully sentient and then eliminate all organic sentient life in the galaxy. Killing Leland and taking control of his body, Control set out to capture Discovery and obtain the data it needed. In a battle near Xahea, Control fought against the Enterprise and Discovery as it attempted to seize the data and become fully sentient. With assistance from Klingon and Kelpian reinforcements the Starfleet crews were able to defeat Control and apparently destroyed it. Discovery continued her journey into the distant future, removing any possibility of Control obtaining the data and destroying all sentient biological life in the galaxy. After the Battle of Xahea, Ash Tyler was named the new leader of Section 31. Starfleet Command stated that they would work to reform the organization and put more oversight in place. In 2267, Section 31 arranged for Admiral Cartwright to order Captain James T. Kirk and Commander Spock to engage in a mission to capture a Romulan cloaking device for further study. Section 31 had a cabal of rogue scientists perform research on creating a stable Omega Molecule, a project that ended badly when the molecule destabalized and made warp travel impossible through the Lantru sector. In the aftermath of what would come to be known as the Lantru disaster Captain Kirk learned of the existence of Section 31. In a meeting two months later Kirk met with several of his fellow officers to form an organization to oppose Section 31. This organization would later become known as the Kirk Cabal. After the explosion of the Klingon moon Praxis, Section 31 participated in the Khitomer Conspiracy through their operative Lance Cartwright. 24th century operations and the Dominion War In 2374, Section 31 attempted to recruit the chief medical officer of space station Deep Space 9, Doctor Julian Bashir, after putting him through psychological testing on the holodeck of a ship to which he had been abducted. Subjecting Bashir to an elaborate deception designed to test his loyalty to the Federation, Section 31 operative Luther Sloan presented himself to Bashir as the Deputy Director of Starfleet Internal Affairs, and placed Bashir in a scenario wherein it appeared that he had defected to the Dominion. Eventually, Sloan became convinced of Bashir's loyalty and, citing his genetically engineered background and fascination with spy stories, offered him a position within Section 31. Bashir, appalled at the thought of an organization that regularly violated the very principles and core values upon which the Federation was founded and which was unaccountable to anyone, declined Sloan's offer, although Section 31 continued to regard him as a potential asset. After the agency returned him to Deep Space 9, Bashir alerted the station's senior staff, including his commanding officer, Captain Benjamin Sisko, and Bajoran Militia officers Major Kira Nerys and Constable Odo, of Section 31's existence and its attempt to recruit him. Sisko advised Bashir to accept Section 31's offer to join them should they ask again so Bashir could spy on the organization for Sisko. In mid-2375, Sloan resurfaced and assigned Bashir to diagnose the health of Koval, Chairman of the Tal Shiar, during an upcoming conference on Romulus. In the course of his efforts to expose Section 31, Bashir discovered that he had actually been manipulated by Sloan into convincing Romulan Senator Kimara Cretak to access Koval's personal database, on suspicions that Section 31 planned to assassinate Koval. This gave Koval sufficient evidence to have Cretak arrested and charged with treason, which assured his own seat on the powerful Continuing Committee. Bashir learned that Koval was an agent of Section 31 after discovering Starfleet Admiral William Ross' complicity in the scheme. It seemed Section 31 had been planning for what it regarded as a likely war with the Romulan Star Empire following the Dominion War. The agency projected that the Dominion was likely to end up confined to the Gamma Quadrant with the Cardassian Union occupied and left a shambles, and the Klingon Empire left to spend at least ten years rebuilding from the damage left by the Klingon-Cardassian War, the Federation-Klingon War of 2372 to 2373, and the Dominion War itself. Section 31 regarded Cretak as a potential threat to the Federation in the post-war Alpha Quadrant, as her primary loyalties were to the Star Empire's interests, while Koval could be counted on to influence Romulus in the Federation's favor. Admiral Ross attempted to defend his actions to Bashir by stating that the high cost of the war justified the extreme measures being taken, but Bashir refused to concede that the ends justified the means. Ross responded by dismissing Bashir from his office and forbidding him from repeating and otherwise acknowledging their conversation. Later that year, while researching the morphogenic virus which was ravaging the Great Link and Odo, Bashir discovered that Section 31 had actually engineered the disease and deliberately infected Odo during a visit to Starfleet Medical three years previously, in a preemptive attempt to neutralize the threat posed by the Founders and the Dominion. Despite the risk that a cure for the disease might reach the Changelings and thus not only strengthen them but also continue the genocidal war they had initiated, Bashir decided to still pursue the matter and find a cure to help Odo. He lured Sloan to Deep Space 9 with false claims of having developed a cure. Sloan, who was committed to the cause of protecting Federation and Starfleet interests at all costs, committed suicide in an attempt to prevent the cure from being discovered, nearly killing Bashir and Chief Miles O'Brien in the process. Unable to revive him, Bashir and O'Brien used a multitronic engrammatic interpreter to link their minds to Sloan's in order to finally retrieve the information before Sloan's brain injuries rendered him brain dead. After the war, Starfleet Intelligence began a serious effort to stamp out Section 31 once and for all. After Julian Bashir and Data managed to delete Uraei Section 31 was exposed. The exposure of Section 31 led to serious repercussions for the Federation, as the public became aware of the extent of 31's activities. People at the highest levels of Federation government were shocked to learn that trusted individuals such as William Ross, Owen Paris, Alynna Nechayev, Edward Jellico, and Tujiro Nakamura were directly involved with 31, and that even famed Captain Jean-Luc Picard had been peripherally involved with 31's removal of President Min Zife from power. At least four members of the Federation Council and two members of President z'Tarash's cabinet were exposed as Section 31 members and were arrested soon afterwards. The faith of the population at large in institutions such as the Federation government and Starfleet were severely shaken by the Section revelations. The Section 31 members arrested by the Federation government were fortunate as opposed to those captured by other governments, such as the Klingon, Romulan, or Dominion governments. The fate of the agents captured by those governments promised to be far less pleasant than those agents in Federation custody. 25th Century By the early 25th century the existence of Section 31 had been revealed to the public at large, and most of their surviving agents were made to stand trial. While Section 31 appeared to finally be shut down, some Starfleet officers and Federation citizens were uncertain that the bureau was completely shut down. Category:Organizations Category:Star Trek Villains Category:Spy Category:Saboteurs Category:Liars Category:Conspirators Category:Friend of a Hero Category:Evil Vs. Evil Category:Terrorists Category:Hypocrites Category:Genocidal Category:Lawful Neutral Category:Inconclusive Category:Dissolved Organizations